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To the Highlands!

I’m upstairs in a bakery-cafe in the town of Fort William, the second largest settlement in the Highlands (after the city of Inverness, about 90 minutes away by car). Our yurt doesn’t have electricity or internet, so I wasn’t going to go online while we were here, but honestly — after two days of hikes in mud and rain, I’m sunburned, grubby, and tired, and happy to be in a place with wifi and power and plenty of cake. And have I got pictures to share! I’ll post some today and schedule another post for tomorrow, and after that I’ll see how I feel.

Getting to Fort William

We took a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow (about 1 hour), and again from Glasgow to Fort William (about 4 hours). The train ride was gorgeous, but a bit warm, and since we hadn’t reserved seats in advance we only got little fold-down tray tables that I couldn’t use for writing (boo).

{as always, mouseover for description, and click to enlarge}

However, we were well fed (and bought more snacks on the train) and I wrote and read when I wasn’t looking out the window at our first glimpses of the Highlands. Though my cramped body was glad to see Fort William station, it was probably among the shortest four hours I’ve spent.

The yurts

From the Fort William train station, we rented a car (“hired” they would say here) to get us to the yurts (about 4 miles). The short drive was rather harrowing for us both, with Erik learning-by-doing to drive on the left side of the road, and me navigating using Google Maps directions I’d written down in Edinburgh. But we arrived safely!

The yurt camp is actually quite close to a major road and right off a minor one, but it feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere — probably because there is so much pasture around it, and we’re underneath these glorious mountains.

After briefly getting settled, we ventured out to the town for dinner. The yurt people had recommended a seafood restaurant on the edge of town, overlooking Loch Linnhe; we went there because it was the first place we spotted, and we found free parking nearby.

Oh my, the food was so good. Pretty much all the seafood we’ve eaten in Scotland has been incredible, but this was very, very well done. I had seared salmon with haddock-potato scones on a bed of creamed spinach, leeks, and samphire (which I’ve since learned is an edible coastal plant). I liked the samphire a lot. It was salty and kind of crunchy.

We were going to check out the town some more after dinner, maybe buy some groceries, but it started raining, and after a couple of dead-ends and confusing roundabouts, we just went home. So I sat in the communal yurt kitchen/dining room and wrote.

As the sun began to set, a cow wandered into the yurt camp and stayed there all night, munching, and sometimes mooing. One of our fellow guests called the yurt managers, but when Erik got up the next morning the cow had been joined by three more! (When I woke up a bit later, though, they were all gone.) It happened again the next night so I’m guessing it’s a regular occurrence — though the horses didn’t seem to like it. I must say it’s a really unnerving experience to try to cross a field after dark, on my way to the toilets, knowing there is a cow somewhere around me.

I didn’t sleep especially well that first night; I kept having to get up to go to the bathroom (I think I panicked because I knew it would be a walk in the dark to get there); but the yurt is a restful place. It’s so beautifully round and the daylight peeks in through the circular opening in the ceiling. After dark we lit candle lanterns (I checked underneath: IKEA!).

The second night I slept well and woke this morning at 5, feeling refreshed… to the sound of mooing.

10 Comments

Lisa, I’m the same way about having to pee when it’s a long trip to the loo. Also, the reason I no longer enjoy the window seat on an airplane (unless I’m sitting next to my husband). If there are people between me and the aisle, all I can think about is having to pee……More beautiful scenery and a fancy food service cart too! Looking at all the loverly countryside in Scotland I’ve noticed nary a telephone pole or high power line. Am I missing something, or is it really that wide open and untamed looking? Gracious, I love it!…..and your yurt is pretty cozy looking too.

Good to know I am not the only one! I always take the aisle seat if I can. Better for stretching, too. 🙂 The countryside really is that untamed looking, though there are some power lines (well spotted!) and the occasional fence. I am so glad we got to see it all by car, train, and on foot; each of those experiences was so different!

Tremendously beautiful, and so uncrowded. All our fellow yurt-stayers seemed to be from England. 🙂 (There was one family from Cumbria and another who said they were from a small town halfway between Leeds and Manchester.) Curiously enough, when we were looking for Highland lodgings I found several yurt places! Ours was greatglenyurts.com but we also considered some in the Trossachs, one at Aviemore which I think is the same one our East Lothian friends did once, and one in the Aldroughty Woods (that one had the lowest rates and we certainly would have booked it if it hadn’t already been reserved!). It was fun staying in a yurt but I’m glad we didn’t stay longer — I like my electricity and internet and convenient toilets. 😉

Lisa,
I must say I am quite jealous but thank you for the chance to travel foreign lands and thanks for my latest screen savers. Wow! The beauty defies language and I admire you for articulating your feelings and experiences with us. I think of Ezra Pound and the Imagistes as I scroll through your entries. It’s been a while since I took a gander through here. I see you’ve been hard at work documenting the beauty of the universe. Thank you for sharing.

Ahhh dear Kuukua, I love thinking of my photos being your screen savers! I’ve got one as my desktop photo right now. 🙂 I’m thinking of blowing some up when we get home and using them as wall décor. I agree, the beauty really does defy language, and it’s such good practice for me to write these posts and try to describe the views in a way that’s not cliché. I hadn’t heard of the Imagistes… that’s some more reading for me to do sometime. 😉 Thank you for reading and commenting and appreciating that these posts are documenting the beauty of the universe. Yes. That’s why I write them — the experience must be shared! ❤

Hi Lisa,
I loved this post! I am actually going to stay at Aldroughty Woods for a week next week! I live is Glasgow so it’s not a far away holiday for me but it will be so nice to go some where quiet and peaceful!

My name is also Lisa and my blog is called Juicy Satsuma…how funny is that? & we’ll both have been camping in yurts! I’ll be writing about my experience in a yurt on my blog if you want to stop by and check it out!

Hi Lisa! I’m so glad you found me — I had no idea there was another Satsuma-Lisa out there!! What a crazy coincidence, and the yurt too, wow. Wish I’d seen your blog when we were in Glasgow (or maybe not, since I think it might have made me want to do more clothes shopping 😉 )! I really enjoyed your outfit posts. Looking forward to seeing how your Aldroughty Woods yurt stay goes! Thanks for commenting!

[…] like a little hut on an island, or a cabin in the woods in some remote place in Canada. (Yeah. Done some version of this several times now. It’s great… coming back is also great. I like my wifi and having […]